Parenting Guru: Fireworks, Watermelon and Johnny Tremain

Johnny Tremain was the first historical novel I read. It was assigned to our sixth grade class by the stern and demanding Mrs.S who was passionate about literature and who handed out diplomas at the end of the year that read, magna cum laude and summa cum laude. Every morning, little puffs of chalk echoed her smoker's cough as she wrote down vocabulary words we were to memorize, words such as harbinger and metaphor.

In sixth grade, I was a Judy Blume sort of girl. I spent the greater part of that year trying to figure out the mystery of menstruation and I knew the answer was somewhere in one of those books. Were breast buds a harbinger of womanhood?

Suddenly, my literary world was split in two. I went from reading a purple paperback book about a girl named Margaret getting her period to a book set in a silversmith shop in colonial Boston on the eve of the American Revolution.

Goodbye Margaret, hello Cilla.

Yes, Cilla. I wanted her to be my sister. Cilla, betrothed to the young protagonist, Johnny Tremain. Cilla, so kind and nurturing. Johnny, so street smart and proud.

Here was a book that not only provided historical context but that also, via my teacher, introduced me to literary devices such as foreshadowing and symbolism. While I still devoured those Judy Blume books, I was happy to discover a whole new genre of literature.

The narrative of Johnny Tremain breathed life into historical figures I'd only vaguely heard about, names like Paul Revere and John Hancock. I followed the slightly-older Johnny Tremain into the silversmith shop where he apprenticed and then out into a Boston abuzz with revolutionary activities. I shadowed Johnny Tremain from page to page, following him around revolutionary Boston.

The book gave me new context in which to view the 4th of July. Finally, I knew a bit more about why we celebrated the day with fireworks (in the driveway!) and watermelon and hours spent swimming in a neighbor's pool.

My own children see the 4th of July in the same way I did pre-Johnny Tremain. To them, it means fireworks (in a city park), watermelon and the hope that they'll one day have a pool. They certainly do not appreciate these many freedoms. But my sons (twins) are just six and newly out of first grade, so I provide historical context to them in simple terms. Well, that and the fact that I am more than a little rusty at American history.

But we make a small effort at getting to know history via the many time travel books that fill our bookshelves and my boys know basic facts about war and important historical moments. Johnny Tremain is on our list of books to read aloud and hopefully, by the time my kids hit the sixth grade, they will also be assigned this simple, yet powerful book to read.

Many great and captivating children's books have been written since Esther Forbes penned Johnny Tremain back in 1944. Can this classic book still hold its own in the minds of older grade school children today?


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Akemi Bourgeois is a Yahoo! Parenting Guru and mom to twin boys. They live in the Bay Area. She writes at Chalk and Cheese Chronicles and edits the blog, Mad About Multiples. She is an editor at Technorati Women. Follow her on Twitter: svtwinmom.